East Bay Co-op pulls away in the end, takes D-II championship series lead

Thursday

Mar 6, 2014 at 10:25 PM

PROVIDENCE — Given all of the success that her players have already enjoyed during their high school hockey careers, coach Deneen Stebenne admits she went into this season asking herself, “Do they have...

By CAROLYN THORNTON

PROVIDENCE — Given all of the success that her players have already enjoyed during their high school hockey careers, coach Deneen Stebenne admits she went into this season asking herself, “Do they have it? Do they still really care? Do they have that fire?”

The members of the Barrington/Mt. Hope/Portsmouth Co-op have been leaving little doubt that they do. Led by two goals by Meghan Miller, a goal and an assist by Danielle Makucevich and a solid night in net by veteran goalie Sophie Faxon, the regular-season champion and two-time defending state champs edged Narragansett/North Kingstown/South Kingstown, 4-2, in the opening game of the Division II finals of the R.I. Interscholastic League Girls Hockey State Championships Thursday at Brown’s Meehan Auditorium.

“I told them they have more fire this year than the last two years,” Stebenne said. “It’s just amazing … the fire’s there. You can see it.”

The teams, which played to a tie in two of their three regular-season meetings, traded goals in the first period. Miller struck first for East Bay Co-op at 3:14, but Nichole Carvalho tied it up with her tally for Narragansett/North Kingstown/South Kingstown at 11:07.

Kelly Kraunelis put the Eagles back on top about a minute into the second period, only to have the South County Storm again knot the score on Erica Edwards’ unassisted goal at 6:49.

About three minutes later, Barrington/Mt. Hope/Portsmouth regained the lead yet again, as Makucevich skated in from the left side and flipped the puck into the net for a shorthanded tally.

This time, the co-op from South County did not have an answer. Miller’s empty-netter with 27 seconds left assured the Eagles that their lead would stand.

“We knew that they would definitely give us a run and that they would be a hard team to beat,” said Faxon. “So we came in expecting something like this, and I think that helped us keep our heads about us throughout the game.”

The teams will return to Meehan for Game Two of the series Friday night at 6.